Two charged after Trumbull drug raid

WARREN – Two men were charged Thursday with drug offenses after police raided their Howland Township home.

Township Police Chief Paul Monroe said the Wednesday afternoon raid at a crack house at 8420 Carriage Hill Drive didn’t net much crack but drug paraphernalia such as crack pipes was sized.

The raid capped a one-month investigation by township police and the Trumbull-Geauga Group Task Force and township police after authorities received a number of complaints about the house.

The homeowner, Gerald Bradley, 65, was arraigned Thursday in municipal court on a charge of possession of drugs and his roommate, Jonathan Stringer, 39, who also gave a Sunnybrook Drive address in Howland, was arraigned before Judge Thomas Gysegem on three counts of aggravated trafficking in drugs.

They will next appear Aug. 14. Bradley’s bond was set at $3,500 surety and Stringer’s at $7,500 surety.

Monroe said neighbors from all the surrounding houses gathered outside – some sitting in lawn chairs – expressing their pleasure because they had complained about the large number of people going in and out of the house.

“The people were very frustrated with the people coming there,” the chief said, noting that Bradley was also issued six citation for violating the township property maintenance code, including high grass.

Two 17-year-old runaway girls were also in the house when it was entered, Monroe explained.

One had fled the Trumbull County Children Services’ residential facility and was returned to the agency. The other runaway was allowed to leave, telling police she was going to call her mother, the chief said.